The government watchdog group Common Cause filed complaints Monday with the Justice Department and Federal Elections Commission over Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer during the presidential race.
The group claimed the meeting, which was arranged by the lawyer under the pretext of providing damaging information about Hillary Clinton, violated the election law prohibiting solicitation of donations from a foreign national.
“These laws exist to safeguard U.S. national security and Donald Trump Jr. appears to have violated the law in order to obtain information helpful to his father’s campaign for the presidency,” said Karen Hobert Flynn, president of Common Cause.
Common Cause argued that the proffer of opposition research, whether genuine or not, represented a contribution to the Trump campaign. The law defines a contribution as anything of value given for the purpose of influencing a federal election.